Tomorrow is the one day I would change for a Monday
with freezing rains melting and no trains running
and sad eyes passing in windows flimsy
and my seat rocking from legs not quite matching
Got passport, credit cards, a plane that I’m catching
Black Sunday falls one day too soon

– “Black Sunday” by Jethro Tull
from the album A

On Sunday February 18th 2001, NASCAR’s revered living icon Dale Earnhardt was killed in an accident during the Daytona 500.  Unprecedented scenes of mourning followed, as track after track and race after race saw tributes both designed and spontaneous.  The latter came from a fan base struggling with coming to grips that the man many had raised to near deity level was not only mortal but gone.

Much of the mourning expressed over Earnhardt’s death was genuine and entirely understandable, an acknowledgment of a hero’s passing.  Unfortunately, some had no sense of reality or priorities.  Earnhardt’s son who bore his father’s name immediately became the focus of not only the quasi-worship previously belonging to his father but a bizarre scenario of presumptive grief.  The depth of loss felt by his fans was assigned to him in as he was cast in the role of The Only Son Who’s Ever Lost His Father.  It wasn’t solely the fans doing this.  The words poured forth from broadcasters and writers about how noble Earnhardt Jr. was, how brave he was, how strong he was in facing this greatest tragedy to ever befall anyone ever.  (Kyle Petty, who had followed in his father Richard’s giant footsteps to drive in NASCAR and the year before had buried his son Adam who died in an accident while practicing for a race might have begged to differ.  But I digress.)

There was one small problem with the above.

Earnhardt Jr. didn’t buy into it.

Sometimes kindly, sometimes snapping out of frustration he made it clear he wanted no part of this.  It was more than enough how every track he raced at had a built-in reminder of his father that required no additional material.  To have him brought up in every conversation and every interview; for he himself to be built up as Superman taking the ultimate hit never before known by anyone… no.  Enough.

I cried last night
First time in years
I tried to fight
But I didn’t want to hold back the tears
Does it come as such a big surprise
I’ve got to make you realize
That I’m not what you think I am
I’m nothing more than just a man
I’m just a man

– “I’m Just A Man” by Undercover
from the album Branded

As was Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2001, so is Barack Obama in 2008… to a point, the difference being that as is his right Obama has made no public comments about his private anguish.  The hyperbole gushing forth from every media outlet and liberal commentator about his nobility in “suspending” his campaign — I use quotation marks to indicate how taking a couple of day off at most jobs hardly qualifies as a sabbatical — to visit his ailing grandmother has in the span of a few hours reached levels that make even the most over the top Earnhardt worshiping drek seem blasé in the extreme.

Note that none of this is, and in no manner is this, a rip on Obama.  He’s doing the right thing.  Very few of us aren’t all too familiar with the heartache of watching loved ones on the long walk away from this place.  No reaction to Obama’s personal situation other than extending knowing comfort is an option.  Ideological differences must never be used as an excuse for personal animosity.  Never.

The issue here is with a media exploiting this as a means to further canonize Obama.  Is it so desperate for anything that can be used to portray him as the Chosen One it feels the need to exploit a moment of private sorrow?  It is bitterly ironic how in a world where traditional media out of a stated motive to protect his ailing wife and the proclamation of how it wasn’t news anyway willfully turned a blind eye to John Edwards’ affair, thus explaining the dogged pursuit of whispers about either John McCain or Sarah Palin cheating on their respective spouses (sarcasm off) until its hand was forced by a sleazy tabloid, now itself is utilizing the prostitution of the personal for profit as a method to further bolster its beloved candidate.

This is why Barack Obama needs to figuratively consult with Dale Earnhardt Jr.  One can only hope his reaction to the hosannas currently being shouted by the media is the same as the driver of the Mountain Dew AMP/National Guard #88 was and is to what came his way in 2001: lose it and leave me alone.